Parenting in a Changing Climate: Tools for Cultivating Resilience, Taking Action, and Practicing Hope in the Face of Climate Change

by Elizabeth Bechard

strong critique of the idea that climate solutions start at home is that the “personal responsibility narrative,” as critics call it, is a distraction from the real causes of climate change, and thus, a distraction from the work that most needs to be done to address it. A 2017 study showed that just a hundred companies are responsible for 71% of global carbon emissions, and a wealth of research—including the conclusions of Project Drawdown—agrees that no amount of personal lifestyle change will be enough to fix the problem of global warming without large-scale systemic change. In an article for Sierra, the national magazine for the Sierra Club, editor Jason Mark writes: “A larger—and more pressing—concern about the personal responsibility mantra is the way in which it obscures the culpability of fossil fuel giants and other industrial actors in fueling the crisis. To insist that individuals must make some behavioral changes only serves to let the real bad actors—the carbon barons, the banks, the right-wing ideologues who have promoted climate science denial—off the hook.